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Meet the New Face of Crime … and the Law

Posted by Chris Whiteside on Jan 28, 2008 // Lead Game Designer from bigBig Studios

Tomorrow Capital City will be terrorized once again with the launch of Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice on the PSP. A few more reviews have come in (here and here), backing up our assertion that PF: EJ delivers a non stop, entertaining experience ideal for the PSP. So do you and Pursuit Force have what it takes to restore peace and justice to the good folks of Capital City?

Last time, we showed you the familiar faces returning to Capital City’s gang lineup. Now, meet the city’s new breed of criminal. Pursuit Force is now a team, and sports some really high tech weaponry so we thought it would be a shame not to be able to unleash justice on some equally hardcore gangs. Unlike Pursuit Force 1, EJ is story driven and each gang has a specific part to play in the plot. We wanted to make sure that each gang had clearly defined roles that make them integral to unfolding the story of the game.

The Raiders
From the outset that we wanted to include more water based vehicles in the game such as Hovercrafts so we came up with various ideas for a ‘Water Based’ gang. The team also wanted to include a bayou style region so brainstorming began for the gang with quite clear goals in terms of what we wanted to achieve. We wanted the Raiders to have the ‘Transport Pirate’ theme of the gang in Fast and Furious and at the same time they needed to have the insane drive of the gangs in Mad Max. A stereotypical ‘Deep South’ mentality seemed to fit the Mad Max style remit and we instilled the ‘Fast and Furious’ theme throughout their vehicles, behaviour and transport targets. The result is that we have a gang who have super cool vehicles and a rabid ferocity to achieve their goals. A subtle mix of humour blended with a deadly menace, these guys are intense and relentless.

The Syndicate
Being a British developer we had always toyed with the idea of having a home brewed gang, but during conception of the first game there were a wide variety of ‘Brit Films’ on the market and we felt that the medium had been somewhat saturated. During the early stages of Pursuit Force EJ our external producer raised the idea again, so we decided to explore it. And in keeping with the ‘Tongue in Cheek’ nature of the game we knew we didn’t want to do a stereotypical ‘Meathead’ gang. We thought it would be cool to have a stylish gang that didn’t take itself too seriously, mixing elements of the thieves in ‘Pink Panther’ with the more comical ways in which people in other countries see our various diverse mix of culture. A gang that was responsible for the heist of London’s Millennium Dome, coupled with their legendary ability to remain in the public eye but never get caught, made them a intoxicating mix of working man’s hero and gentleman thief.

American Intelligence has been gathering intelligence over the last year. The reports aren’t good, a storm is brewing over Capital City and the Mayor has been made aware of the incoming hurricane of crime. Petrified by the vision of a City once again in chaos, the Mayor has decide to create a new elite police unit. And this is how Viper was born.

We loved the idea of creating a new police force that was the Ying to Pursuit Force’s Yang. A brutal police unit specialising in Riot Control. We wanted them to overshadow Pursuit Force (and when you play the game you will see why) in terms of their high tech vehicles and equipment and in their merciless tactics. A ‘Zero Tolerance’ unit that would roll over anyone including Pursuit Force to see their law enforced. The unit is loosely based on Police units that are already operational in various countries around the world. The question is, how far will they go to enforce their own brand of justice?

This time Pursuit Force is on the ropes and once again the city needs a hero!

I always felt like I was one of the few that really liked the first game, despite the awful on foot segments (just run around cuffing everyone). I’ll pick this one up as soon as I have time, that’s for sure. The driving/shooting portions were some of the best fun to be had on the PSP early in it’s life.

I just bought a 4GB memory card. i would buy this on Playstation Store for PC or my PS3. Probably wouldn’t get it as UMD though. I guess that all depends on file size for the download. I am running out of physical space tho in my PSP slim hard case.

doesnt look like it should have been a psp game, i think games like loco roco/patapon/Katamari and than even ratchet and daxter are all good but its just horrible for shooters like medal of honor and this is too much for it…..